ClipperCreek has announced a new high power/low cost 240V charging station to their lineup of EVSEs.

The New HCS-50 Outdoors…in action?

The new unit continues a trend of sturdy products with not-so-sexy names from Clipper, as the HCS-50 is an indoor/outdoor rated 40 amp charging station capable of 9.6 kW of output.

Most importantly, while not the highest output L2 unit in the family, the unit is priced from a very reasonable $835 as a direct wire, or as a plug-in for $859.

In a statement, Jason France, President and Founder of ClipperCreek stresses the unit’s functionality for commercial as well as residential applications:

“We used rubber over-molding to fully seal the connector’s head and increase the durability. That’s critical in commercial and fleet environments. The rubber cable jacket increases low temperature flexibility of the cable, so it’s also a great station for colder climates.”

The company also lists the following specs/features for the HCS-50:

For When You Need A Little Extra Via L2, ClipperCreek Now Adds A Even More Affordable Solution With The HCS-50

Please elaborate on the “meltdown” that Tony’s Rav 4 Ev had. First time i’m hearing this, i figured with Tony’s willingness to comment on things he doesn’t like, that there would have been a full blown blog about it all over the web by now! I wasn’t aware of any problems with the Rav 4 but then again i only know of one in my state.

Not familiar with Tony’s case specifically, but in general, RAV4EV owners seem to have ‘learned’ not to charge at the ‘standard 40 amp’ rate. Tends to make the j1772 connector at the car get too warm and Melt.

I’m gathering they either limit charge time or else limit charge current to 30 amps or less.

Tesla took liberties with things overheating initially with the S, before releasing 2 kludges which addressed the problem with the S’s at least, as I’ve explained elsewhere.

Most tesla “S”‘s which have the so-called ‘Dual Chargers’ can in fact charge at a 16 – 19.2 kw rate, assuming 200-240 volts being available, respectively under load.

(THe figures given are ‘charger input power’ not output. The power factor is over .99 so there is very little inaccuracy in the above figures).

By one phase I assume you mean ‘single phase’. Some people assume north American homes have ‘2 phase’ power, seeing as there are L1 and L2 ‘legs’.

It is not. True 2 phase power has continuous power flow, a definition of polyphase power. Household power in 97% Of the cases does not, and therefore calling this 2-phase is a misnomer since 180 degree phase shift is trivially ease and doesn’t count. More to the point, the power flow on a properly termed single phase line stops 120 or 100 times per second.

I don’t get it – I have always seen Clipper Creek to be cheaper for the same product than anyone else that has UL certification. The Leviton 400 is a 6.6 kW EVSE for $699 at Home Depot. The Clipper Creek equivalent is the HCS-40, which they sell direct for $565. But that’s 7.7 kW.

As for this product, for $899 you can get the HCS-60 that can charge at 48 amps or 11.5 kW.

With something like this you don’t buy for what you have now, you buy for what will be out later. Honestly if I were to buy another EVSE right now I would buy a CS-100 and just set the current at 40 or 50 amps. That way I could rewire the supply for 100 amps later and raise the current up for whatever I needed.

Clipper Creek has the most product offerings for charging now. They make an evse to plug into 15,20,25,40,50,60, and 100 amp circuits. The question is is that really necessary? I think they could eliminate a few of the in between models. This new one i guess fills a void that i didnt know we had. Isnt tge hcs60 the same size and almost the same price??

While Clipper Creek has a plethora of options as far as EVSEs, I don’t think it is as much work to put out all those options as you think. For example, the LCS-20 and the LCS-25 are identical hardware wise; the only difference is in the software installed. The same probably applies to the HCS-50 and HCS-60.

Clipper Creek configures their products in the firmware that is not user adjustable. You have to buy the one that matches the circuit you have available. On the other hand, the Tesla HPWC is configurable with DIP switches to cover a wide range of circuit sizes from 40A to 100A breakers.

I would love to see DC-chargers, that eventually can be connected to a PV-system/battery bank directly (via DC-DC-converter) and work bi-directional. I see all these EVSE’s as an intermediate solution and long term for travel only.

JESLA is based on the Tesla UMC and was designed specifically with the unique 40 amp Tesla onboard charger that is in a Mercedes B-Class ED, Toyota RAV4 EV, and of course Tesla cars.

It also works equally fantastic with cars like the BMW i3, Fiat 500e, Chevy Volt, Kia Soul EV or Nissan LEAF. It is ultra flexible, light weight (only 8 pounds total!), and portable, PLUS it adjusts from 100 to 250 volts and 12 to 40 amps, automatically. You don’t have to know anything about electricity and no installation required;

JELSA ships with NEMA 14-50 and NEMA 5-15 plugs, a padlock, plus a carrying bag. Additionally, you may want to buy the correct plug for your dryer (handy for visiting friends or relatives at their house) or for motel air conditioners:

Maybe Clipper Creek noticed the success Tony Williams is having with the Jesla and decided to offer a very similar product for portable charging. I have evseupgrade.com evse that i carry with me but its only 3.84kw. My 2015 Leaf has the 6.6kw charger, so if i go on a roadtrip where there might not be j1772 stations available i have to take my CC CS-40 or Ge Wattstation off the wall and bring it with me to charge at full speed. I put a 14-50 plug on either one for mobile use. A Jesla or Clipper Creek Hcs-40 or new Hcs-50 would make more sense. The Jesla is barely any biggger than my upgraded Nissan Evse.

$835 is low cost? I put together a 50A capable OpenEVSE unit with 20′ cable for $415. No soldering, just a dozen screws and 6 crimp connectors.

I’m sure not everyone has the desire or ability to deal with some screws and crimp connectors but you can’t tell me this lower amp unit has $435 worth of labor in it.

EVSEs are barely more advanced than a switch as the real smarts are in the car already. Even the $415 I spent feels high when you see the whole thing is basically a single contactor, a single PCB, and a housing. The unit should be like $100 and the J1772 cables are even more severely overpriced for what they are.

I would guess in 10 years these things will cost $100 and I look forward to it greatly.